Gideon’s Story

Site created on February 14, 2022

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place.

By the grace of God, our story starts with life. It’s a privilege to even get to share on this platform as it means our boy is still here with us. All glory to God!

We decided to visit the ER Saturday morning after experiencing decreased fetal movement throughout Friday. After a few tests our midwife and doctor at Doylestown decided to perform an emergency c-section. We are so grateful for their attention and response! Our doctor informed us if it had been caught even a day later our boy would have been still-born. We pause to recognize God’s gracious gift of timing. All is grace.

We rejoice to introduce Gideon Boaz Bryan, God’s gift to us. Born 2/12/22 at 1:21 pm weighing 6 lbs 11 oz, 19.25 inches. Born at 36 weeks and 4 days. Soli Deo Gloria!

But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
Psalm 13:5‭-‬6 We feel the Lord’s bounty in the gift of Gideon’s life!

What we know so far:
Gideon experienced a maternal fetal hemorrhage which means his blood was going into my body through the placenta. This can happen when the placenta is compromised or if there is major trauma like a car accident or something. The strange thing is neither of these things happened. Whatever the reason for the hemorrhage, Gideon was born with 3.5 out of 12 hemoglobin (he was extremely anemic). Since being born he has had to undergo many life saving measures, was transferred to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia by helicopter, has received blood transfusions, has been put on a cooling mat to protect his brain from damage and is now on an oscillating ventilator that expands his lungs to protect them too. He is being slightly sedated so his body can heal and recover from his traumatic start. His condition is critical and doctors aren’t yet been able to give us a prognosis. We do know his brain shows signs of HIE (hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy) which means his brain wasn’t getting oxygen. An mri will give us a more clear Gideon-specific prognosis on the HIE after his brain-protective cooling process is over.

A wonderful nurse practitioner spoke to us at length and is very encouraged as he has already been showing improvements: his oxygen required went from 100% to 30%, hemoglobin holding at 9.5 or above and other life supportive measures are able to slowly decrease. She said we should prepare for a long nicu stay and a long at home recovery with tons of in home services. She can't tell us if our boy will be running around in the backyard but she is amazed at the brain’s ability to handle trauma and self heal...especially babies. We are praying for God's protective hand over his brain function and are grateful for modern technology.

What we also know (and really, the only thing that matters):
God reigns on the throne! We trust everything that comes from His hand. The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy but God comes to give life abundant. We know God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask think or imagine. We don’t need to fear death as Christ has ultimately conquered death with the exchange of his own life on the cross. We give Him praise for saving Gideon's life and giving all the medical staff wisdom. And we continue to trust Him in whatever our new normal will look like.

Thank you for your prayers! If ever the Gospel of Christ was good news, it IS truly good news for NOW, for all of us and for Gideon. Every outcome from here on out is a win win as God is working everything for good, towards redemption…for His glory and all of our good. We are ecstatic to have a front row seat to see it all unfolds.

Prayer requests:
- our 4 “older” children: initially they are being cared for by loving Grandparents and family. But it is no small task! Pray for us as we figure out a new lifestyle that includes balancing NICU stays and normal home life to give them as much of Mommy and Daddy as possible. Pray for their little hearts as God prepares them to be extra special big siblings: Judea 6, Eliza 4, Azariah 3 and baby Ezekiel 14 months (we really miss them!!)
- for Gideon’s brain and body systems to be supernaturally protected and for any damage to be supernaturally healed.
- wisdom and supernatural ability for the amazing team at CHOP who is caring for Gideon around the clock.

“He sent out his word and healed them, snatching them from the door of death. Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭107:20-21‬

Newest Update

Journal entry by Abby Bryan

A quick update to fill you in on Gideon’s progress! This may be one of our last updates as Gideon is doing really well. Seth and I still feel overwhelmed with gratitude that God allowed our son to live. We are so grateful to recently have celebrated him turning 3 months! Life at home has been WILD since we brought Gideon home. 5 kids under 6 with three in diapers (don’t judge us, we are working on the potty training!) has proven a challenge. We praise God for every crazy, beautiful moment. No one knows what tomorrow holds and all of our children’s lives feel like a gift. 

Today my Mom was able to join me at a couple appointments at CHOP downtown. One was to repeat Gideon’s sweat test to clarify if he has Cyctis Fibrosis or not. Unfortunately he didn’t produce enough sweat again, so we will go back at some point and retest. The other appointment was with the neurologist, the same Dr who did Gideon’s initial MRI. We had an extremely encouraging meeting with her (she is an exceptional doctor and human…very  caring and a wonderful listener). The huge praise is that so far the development Gideon is presenting is consistent with the good MRI results early on. There have been NO seizures, NO development delays and NO further heart issues. Praise God! Because of this there is no need to repeat an MRI. Gideon still has a bevy of appts: pulmonology, cardiology (he will continue to be on a heart medication for about a year as a precaution), early intervention and he will be assessed at a high risk clinic. But so far, he is checking all the developmental boxes. Having my Mom with me today felt so redemptive. I was able to show her our “home” for that month he was in the NICU and recall the many tears and prayers on his behalf.  

Seth and I want to thank you; for your prayers, cards, donations, help with childcare. We will say it again, there is truly nothing like God’s people being the church and surrounding our family with love. We thank even the strangers out there that we don’t know. THANK YOU!

A final note: many of you have asked about updates on my sister Jen and her husband Stuart’s precious son, Calvin McCommas. Shortly before our previous post, Calvin passed on and is now experiencing pure joy and perfection in Jesus’ arms. Our entire family is heartbroken but we specifically ask for continued prayers for Calvin’s siblings and parents as they grieve their beloved boy. Words fail and tears are still flowing as I type this. Calvin is so missed. 

I invite you to search for Calvin’s Caringbridge site and view this beautiful video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8sWCHN16ODo





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